Lets Keep Lavin and and this team in perspective.

J

jumbo_peanuts

Active member
Guys, I know a lot of people are down on Lavin and this program after this season, but we really need to keep things in perspective. It is only his 3rd year here, and he has faced some situations that no other coach that I can remember has had to go through…whether it was suspensions, health, youth, decommits, ineligibility, etc. It may sound like nothing but excuses, but it’s the truth of what actually happened.

In his first year we finished 21-12 and made the Big Dance. Not bad considering it was his first time coaching in 7years, and it was coming off of what probably was the worst 10yr stretch in our programs history. He won with a group of players that the previous coach could not win with.

His 2nd year, things were a little rough. That season we had to do a complete roster makeover. What did Lavin do? He brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the country. But because of that, we were the young team in the entire country. I know people on this board don’t like to hear that excuse, but it’s the truth. You can say that programs like Kentucky win with youth all the time, but their youth is made up of one-and-done players that are 1st round draft picks. Sorry but our talent isn’t quite there yet. We also had some players ruled ineligible and/or transfer. Oh yeah, there was also the fact that Coach Lavin missed the entire year because he was battling cancer. I have never had cancer, so I am not even going to try to imagine the difficulties of trying to balance your health and coaching responsibilities. We finished that year 13-19, but we also played that year without our head coach, and by the end of the year were starting 5 freshman and only going 6 deep total.

Then there is this year. We have been up and down all year long. But once again, we are still a young team that hasn’t had a complete roster the entire year. Our ‘best’ player has been suspended on 2 different occasions. We had to deal with eligibility issues again. Lavin was out for a little bit due to the health issues with his father. Can’t blame him for that. We also lost our X’s and O’s coach in Mike Dunlap. I’m guessing that Lavin wasn’t prepared for that, but who would be? I doubt that during the interview process Dunlap was like, “Well Steve, I would love to join your staff, but I’m done as soon as I get a better offer.”

Right now we are 16-15, and hopefully will get an NIT bid. Is it where we should be? Not, but it’s pretty much on par with where this board expected us to be this year. You take away a few bad losses early in the season, and we are around 18-19 wins, which is what we expected.
What are pple saying are our biggest issues? No center, no shooters, no PG. Well we thought we had our centers in Norvelle Pelle, Ricardo Gathers, and Sanchez. Two of those three never made it to campus, and the other was ruled ineligible (and don’t forget about Gift too). Regarding shooters, I’ll be honest, this team can’t shoot the ball. Our best shooting threat was suspended and has had issues all season, and our only other shooter (Marco) averaged about 5-6mins/game up until the last 10. The last issue is our lack of PG. Well we thought we had our PG last year in Nurideen Lindsey. He transferred mid season, forcing Harrison and Greene to play out of position. Now we have Branch. It’s hard to judge him, considering he has played in less than 50% of our games this year. Time will tell on him.

And just to keep things in perspective more, here are the records of 3 other coaches during their first 3 years:

Coach K – First 3yrs at Duke: 17-13, 10-17, 11-17.
Jay Wright – First 3yrs at Nova: 19-13, 15-16, 18-17.
Jim Calhoun – First 3yrs at Pukon: 9-19, 20-14, 18-13.

Where would those programs be right now if they would have given up on their coaches after 3 sub-par seasons?

Let’s not give up on Lavin quite yet!!! I believe in him and this program. Go Johnnies!!
 
Guys, I know a lot of people are down on Lavin and this program after this season, but we really need to keep things in perspective. It is only his 3rd year here, and he has faced some situations that no other coach that I can remember has had to go through…whether it was suspensions, health, youth, decommits, ineligibility, etc. It may sound like nothing but excuses, but it’s the truth of what actually happened.

In his first year we finished 21-12 and made the Big Dance. Not bad considering it was his first time coaching in 7years, and it was coming off of what probably was the worst 10yr stretch in our programs history. He won with a group of players that the previous coach could not win with.

His 2nd year, things were a little rough. That season we had to do a complete roster makeover. What did Lavin do? He brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the country. But because of that, we were the young team in the entire country. I know people on this board don’t like to hear that excuse, but it’s the truth. You can say that programs like Kentucky win with youth all the time, but their youth is made up of one-and-done players that are 1st round draft picks. Sorry but our talent isn’t quite there yet. We also had some players ruled ineligible and/or transfer. Oh yeah, there was also the fact that Coach Lavin missed the entire year because he was battling cancer. I have never had cancer, so I am not even going to try to imagine the difficulties of trying to balance your health and coaching responsibilities. We finished that year 13-19, but we also played that year without our head coach, and by the end of the year were starting 5 freshman and only going 6 deep total.

Then there is this year. We have been up and down all year long. But once again, we are still a young team that hasn’t had a complete roster the entire year. Our ‘best’ player has been suspended on 2 different occasions. We had to deal with eligibility issues again. Lavin was out for a little bit due to the health issues with his father. Can’t blame him for that. We also lost our X’s and O’s coach in Mike Dunlap. I’m guessing that Lavin wasn’t prepared for that, but who would be? I doubt that during the interview process Dunlap was like, “Well Steve, I would love to join your staff, but I’m done as soon as I get a better offer.”

Right now we are 16-15, and hopefully will get an NIT bid. Is it where we should be? Not, but it’s pretty much on par with where this board expected us to be this year. You take away a few bad losses early in the season, and we are around 18-19 wins, which is what we expected.
What are pple saying are our biggest issues? No center, no shooters, no PG. Well we thought we had our centers in Norvelle Pelle, Ricardo Gathers, and Sanchez. Two of those three never made it to campus, and the other was ruled ineligible (and don’t forget about Gift too). Regarding shooters, I’ll be honest, this team can’t shoot the ball. Our best shooting threat was suspended and has had issues all season, and our only other shooter (Marco) averaged about 5-6mins/game up until the last 10. The last issue is our lack of PG. Well we thought we had our PG last year in Nurideen Lindsey. He transferred mid season, forcing Harrison and Greene to play out of position. Now we have Branch. It’s hard to judge him, considering he has played in less than 50% of our games this year. Time will tell on him.

And just to keep things in perspective more, here are the records of 3 other coaches during their first 3 years:

Coach K – First 3yrs at Duke: 17-13, 10-17, 11-17.
Jay Wright – First 3yrs at Nova: 19-13, 15-16, 18-17.
Jim Calhoun – First 3yrs at Pukon: 9-19, 20-14, 18-13.

Where would those programs be right now if they would have given up on their coaches after 3 sub-par seasons?

Let’s not give up on Lavin quite yet!!! I believe in him and this program. Go Johnnies!!
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did you cut and paste this post from the one you did after roberts' third year?

re: your coaching examples...all three managed to bring in a superstar to change their fortunes. we have none on the horizon. lavin didn't bring in one of the best recruiting classes in the country. he brought in one of the most overrated classes in the country. i'll give you two ROY's...but good players can shoot and rebound. can sampson?
 
It is completely understandable that it takes time to build up a program. I'm not arguing that. Here's are my 2 issues:

- The recruiting of athletic wing players need to stop. Sure, having a few slashers on your team is a good thing. But when you have a team full of slashers who have no idea how to (a) create (b) shoot the ball, it becomes a problem. That's why I'm so down on this team. Realistically speaking, it's going to be hard to improve without a couple of guys who can knock down a jump shot.

- Game after game, I watched players just stand around on offense. I don't know if guys didn't know where they needed to be or if there really was no offensive system in place. But if Lavin is not capable of installing something by next season, he really needs to go out and hire an assistant coach who can. This whole 'give the ball to Branch or Harrison and have them dribble around the perimeter for 25 seconds' is not going to cut it against the better teams in the conference.
 
Guys, I know a lot of people are down on Lavin and this program after this season, but we really need to keep things in perspective. It is only his 3rd year here, and he has faced some situations that no other coach that I can remember has had to go through…whether it was suspensions, health, youth, decommits, ineligibility, etc. It may sound like nothing but excuses, but it’s the truth of what actually happened.

Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim are two coaches that come to mind
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Guys, I know a lot of people are down on Lavin and this program after this season, but we really need to keep things in perspective. It is only his 3rd year here, and he has faced some situations that no other coach that I can remember has had to go through…whether it was suspensions, health, youth, decommits, ineligibility, etc. It may sound like nothing but excuses, but it’s the truth of what actually happened.

In his first year we finished 21-12 and made the Big Dance. Not bad considering it was his first time coaching in 7years, and it was coming off of what probably was the worst 10yr stretch in our programs history. He won with a group of players that the previous coach could not win with.

His 2nd year, things were a little rough. That season we had to do a complete roster makeover. What did Lavin do? He brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the country. But because of that, we were the young team in the entire country. I know people on this board don’t like to hear that excuse, but it’s the truth. You can say that programs like Kentucky win with youth all the time, but their youth is made up of one-and-done players that are 1st round draft picks. Sorry but our talent isn’t quite there yet. We also had some players ruled ineligible and/or transfer. Oh yeah, there was also the fact that Coach Lavin missed the entire year because he was battling cancer. I have never had cancer, so I am not even going to try to imagine the difficulties of trying to balance your health and coaching responsibilities. We finished that year 13-19, but we also played that year without our head coach, and by the end of the year were starting 5 freshman and only going 6 deep total.

Then there is this year. We have been up and down all year long. But once again, we are still a young team that hasn’t had a complete roster the entire year. Our ‘best’ player has been suspended on 2 different occasions. We had to deal with eligibility issues again. Lavin was out for a little bit due to the health issues with his father. Can’t blame him for that. We also lost our X’s and O’s coach in Mike Dunlap. I’m guessing that Lavin wasn’t prepared for that, but who would be? I doubt that during the interview process Dunlap was like, “Well Steve, I would love to join your staff, but I’m done as soon as I get a better offer.”

Right now we are 16-15, and hopefully will get an NIT bid. Is it where we should be? Not, but it’s pretty much on par with where this board expected us to be this year. You take away a few bad losses early in the season, and we are around 18-19 wins, which is what we expected.
What are pple saying are our biggest issues? No center, no shooters, no PG. Well we thought we had our centers in Norvelle Pelle, Ricardo Gathers, and Sanchez. Two of those three never made it to campus, and the other was ruled ineligible (and don’t forget about Gift too). Regarding shooters, I’ll be honest, this team can’t shoot the ball. Our best shooting threat was suspended and has had issues all season, and our only other shooter (Marco) averaged about 5-6mins/game up until the last 10. The last issue is our lack of PG. Well we thought we had our PG last year in Nurideen Lindsey. He transferred mid season, forcing Harrison and Greene to play out of position. Now we have Branch. It’s hard to judge him, considering he has played in less than 50% of our games this year. Time will tell on him.

And just to keep things in perspective more, here are the records of 3 other coaches during their first 3 years:

Coach K – First 3yrs at Duke: 17-13, 10-17, 11-17.
Jay Wright – First 3yrs at Nova: 19-13, 15-16, 18-17.
Jim Calhoun – First 3yrs at Pukon: 9-19, 20-14, 18-13.

Where would those programs be right now if they would have given up on their coaches after 3 sub-par seasons?
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Let’s not give up on Lavin quite yet!!! I believe in him and this program. Go Johnnies!!
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Good post Do not think we have given up Most feel we should have shown more this yr
 
The sentiment of the thread is admirable and I am not "down" on things because of the results per se. The most disturbing thing to me is the lack of improvement; yes our record is a little better but we are the same team we were last year and were at the beginning of this year. Can anyone cite real development, real improvement in our team this year? We make the same mistakes, the same boneheaded mistakes game in and game out. Sampson hangs on the rim last night at a critical juncture and then looks incredulous he is T'd. I wish we were more but I see a glorified AAU team out there and I don't get it.......................
 
The sentiment of the thread is admirable and I am not "down" on things because of the results per se. The most disturbing thing to me is the lack of improvement; yes our record is a little better but we are the same team we were last year and were at the beginning of this year. Can anyone cite real development, real improvement in our team this year? We make the same mistakes, the same boneheaded mistakes game in and game out. Sampson hangs on the rim last night at a critical juncture and then looks incredulous he is T'd. I wish we were more but I see a glorified AAU team out there and I don't get it.......................
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Good point on lack of development vs. lack of results. The former is more concerning right now I think.

There were definitely big improvements on an individual basis (Obekpa made tremendous strides in almost every aspect of the game; he's going to be an absolute stud next year). Team offense and defense may have actually gone backwards, however. We had that one flash in the middle of the BE schedule, but other than that I thought in a lot of ways we were playing more cohesively and strategically/fundamentally sound earlier in the season.

We're going to get better next year just by virtue of the added talent. That's the good news. But we will not realize our ceiling unless we become better developed in terms of strategy and execution. That's really the concern right now. I hang on to the fact that the staff accomplished this (albeit with Dunlap) with the 2010-2011 team, and that it takes time to implement this with all 1st and 2nd year players. That rationale won't be available next year, and when you watch a game like last night (and others this season) it's really tough to tell just how much improvement needs to take place in the next 7 months.
 
Yeah this is kind of crap. Norm was getting trashed at this stage of his tenure. Lavin hasn't done much. And as for what he inherited...He inherited a solid team. He then parlayed that team into a ton of 100 recruits. SInce then he has shown he sturggles to A. evaluate talent properly. B. coach the talent he has. There are certain guys who got worse from their freshman to soph year! You can make the argument that Norm Roberts inherited a much worse situation than Lavin did. Pretty easily actually.
 
Yeah this is kind of crap. Norm was getting trashed at this stage of his tenure. Lavin hasn't done much. And as for what he inherited...He inherited a solid team. He then parlayed that team into a ton of 100 recruits. SInce then he has shown he sturggles to A. evaluate talent properly. B. coach the talent he has. There are certain guys who got worse from their freshman to soph year! You can make the argument that Norm Roberts inherited a much worse situation than Lavin did. Pretty easily actually.
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I wouldn't quite say he struggles to evaluate talent properly. On the contrary, I think he's got a strong eye for talent. The problem is he's recruiting the same type of player. Athletic small forwards are all well in good, but they aren't going to succeed on a team where (a) you don't have a PG (b) you have no legitimate outside threat (c) you have no one to do the dirty work inside.

Now, my personal hope is that we can fix some of these problems internally next season. Maybe Jamal Branch evolves into the PG that we all saw pre injury. Maybe JaKarr Sampson and Chris Obekpa put on some weight and start to play a more physical brand of basketball. And I'm sure bringing in Orlando Sanchez and having God's Gift return will help that as well. As for the shooting woes, I'm stumped. If D'Angelo Harrison is back next year, that will help. Yes, he's streaky but he is the best shooter we have on the team and the most dynamic scorer. Marco Bourgault was more or less useless and I'm not sold on Max Hooper being the answer. Again, I'll see how the end of this recruiting season plays out. Maybe they have their eye on somebody who can shoot the rock. Ultimately, that's what I'm hoping for.
 
Yeah this is kind of crap. Norm was getting trashed at this stage of his tenure. Lavin hasn't done much. And as for what he inherited...He inherited a solid team. He then parlayed that team into a ton of 100 recruits. SInce then he has shown he sturggles to A. evaluate talent properly. B. coach the talent he has. There are certain guys who got worse from their freshman to soph year! You can make the argument that Norm Roberts inherited a much worse situation than Lavin did. Pretty easily actually.
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he's had 4 players on the Big East All Rookie team the last 2 years. That's not too bad of an eye for talent

And he didn't parlay what he inherited into the top 100 recruits because he had them committed ( or most of them ) if I remember correctly before the season even started with that 1st big class

But you're right that next year he needs to have a good year or else he certainly will be open to criticism
 
I'm surprised folks are jumping ship so fast. I guess that's because expectations are higher than they have been in recent years. That may be a good thing. We all are disappointed in this season. Some expected more than others and, therefore, may be more disappointed. Nonetheless, I'm confident Lavin will have us back on the winning track very soon.
 
Yeah this is kind of crap. Norm was getting trashed at this stage of his tenure. Lavin hasn't done much. And as for what he inherited...He inherited a solid team. He then parlayed that team into a ton of 100 recruits. SInce then he has shown he sturggles to A. evaluate talent properly. B. coach the talent he has. There are certain guys who got worse from their freshman to soph year! You can make the argument that Norm Roberts inherited a much worse situation than Lavin did. Pretty easily actually.
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he's had 4 players on the Big East All Rookie team the last 2 years. That's not too bad of an eye for talent

And he didn't parlay what he inherited into the top 100 recruits because he had them committed ( or most of them ) if I remember correctly before the season even started with that 1st big class

But you're right that next year he needs to have a good year or else he certainly will be open to criticism
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Three of the four were on ths years team and we lost 8 of our last 10 games. I can see hw many would be critical. Many also believe that the team regressed during the course of the season. I believe that the competition got better the later half of the season. But overall the season was disappointing as surprisingly was the recruiting as well.
 
I'm surprised folks are jumping ship so fast. I guess that's because expectations are higher than they have been in recent years. That may be a good thing. We all are disappointed in this season. Some expected more than others and, therefore, may be more disappointed. Nonetheless, I'm confident Lavin will have us back on the winning track very soon.
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I am not remotely jumping ship; I am confused by the decided lack of improvement/development. Lavin hired a great staff on paper, guys who were highly respected for their player development. We have seen none of it so I am confused. We brought in athletic players but I don't think the team plays especially hard which I don't get. Maybe I am just looking through a die-hard fans eyes but we seem to lose most 50-50 balls, we get outrebounded almost every game; that is about effort. We seem to have a free lance offensive approach but meanwhile we have very uncreative, poor guard play which seems to make the free lance approach a poor one, so you wind up with Phil Greene firing shot after shot. While Obekpa needs a ton of work on the scoring side, he showed himself to be maybe our best passer yet we never tried any inside out plays, never fed the post. And this from a guy who earlier in the year said Obepka shouldn't be playing (wrong about that one). We never picked for Bourgault, it goes on and on. Now I don't think Lavin and staff are dumb and forgot the game so it is very confusing to me. I think we have talent but absolutely no chemistry, why? Are the players the wrong mix personality wise, is there no locker room leadership? Forget the coaches, any coach worth anything knows you need real leadership amongst the players, are there no leaders on the team? I just see a team that should be a lot better IMO and wonder why not?
 
At what point does the lack of player development go from the shoulders of the coaches to the shoulders of the players themselves?

One of our biggest problems is shooting/free throws. Successful free throw shooting, and shooting in general is all about repetition. You don't become a good shooter during practice.....you become a good shooter before and after practice, when you are the only one shooting in the gym, and while everyone else is out partying and doing whatever, you are in the gym working on your game. That is the time when you become a good shooter.


"How good do I really want to be?" and "How much extra work and effort am I willing to put in?" Those are decisions that these players have to make, on their own.
 
Next year is a big year for Lavin, although I think he is moving this program in the right direction. I think the people that are "down" on this program are going to be pleasantly surprised with how good this team can be next year. With Sanchez, Harrison (if he returns), Gift, the trip to Europe and a new conference, I fully expect next year to be a "breakout" year for this group. I would be VERY surprised if this isn't a tournament team next year. Getting back Sampson and Harrison is they key to me unless they can sign Jordan.
 
At what point does the lack of player development go from the shoulders of the coaches to the shoulders of the players themselves?

One of our biggest problems is shooting/free throws. Successful free throw shooting, and shooting in general is all about repetition. You don't become a good shooter during practice.....you become a good shooter before and after practice, when you are the only one shooting in the gym, and while everyone else is out partying and doing whatever, you are in the gym working on your game. That is the time when you become a good shooter.


"How good do I really want to be?" and "How much extra work and effort am I willing to put in?" Those are decisions that these players have to make, on their own.
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Do you know what Otto Porter, Jr. was doing when most of his peers were playing AAU ball?

He was doing individual workouts. Yep! He was working on his game during the spring and summer months of the travel season. I'm not totally against AAU ball (although, there are some things that could and should change), but I appreciate what a guy like Porter was doing.

Of course, a coach or a staff can help players get better. But it's also up to the individual to want to get better. Many times, a player has to take it upon himself to get better.

A coach can work with a player during practice and in workouts. It's up to the player to continue to do things on an individual basis to better their game.
 
I'm surprised folks are jumping ship so fast. I guess that's because expectations are higher than they have been in recent years. That may be a good thing. We all are disappointed in this season. Some expected more than others and, therefore, may be more disappointed. Nonetheless, I'm confident Lavin will have us back on the winning track very soon.
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I am not remotely jumping ship; I am confused by the decided lack of improvement/development. Lavin hired a great staff on paper, guys who were highly respected for their player development. We have seen none of it so I am confused. We brought in athletic players but I don't think the team plays especially hard which I don't get. Maybe I am just looking through a die-hard fans eyes but we seem to lose most 50-50 balls, we get outrebounded almost every game; that is about effort. We seem to have a free lance offensive approach but meanwhile we have very uncreative, poor guard play which seems to make the free lance approach a poor one, so you wind up with Phil Greene firing shot after shot. While Obekpa needs a ton of work on the scoring side, he showed himself to be maybe our best passer yet we never tried any inside out plays, never fed the post. And this from a guy who earlier in the year said Obepka shouldn't be playing (wrong about that one). We never picked for Bourgault, it goes on and on. Now I don't think Lavin and staff are dumb and forgot the game so it is very confusing to me. I think we have talent but absolutely no chemistry, why? Are the players the wrong mix personality wise, is there no locker room leadership? Forget the coaches, any coach worth anything knows you need real leadership amongst the players, are there no leaders on the team? I just see a team that should be a lot better IMO and wonder why not?
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I really think it boils down to physical strength. It looks to me like men vs. boys out there sometimes. We have a bunch of skinny kids who can jum against these guys with hugh shoulders and upper bodies. We need to hit the weight room!! it always seems we are being pushed around. 50/50 balls are being ripped from our hands, we get pushed off the block much to often. We just couldn't compete with the bigger more physical teams. I believe Sanchez will help with that next year, but the rest of the team needs to get stronger as well.
 
As you can see I agree with many of the pros and cons posted here, both about our coaches and player development.
As for our coach in particular, I see a man who has gone through a very difficult period in his life that began last year with a cancer diagnosis and the illness and death of his beloved father this year.  Unless you have walked in those shoes, you cannot appreciate the emotional impact they have had on the man.  I think it will make him a stronger coach for next year since he is a good student of the game and will learn for his many mistakes this year. 
My disappointment has been with not replacing coach Dunlap with a respected tactician.  We know he had a highly respected HS coach on his list but hiring another UCLA buddy was dumb.  When you have a coach with Keady's experience on your bench and do not move him to associate head coach, it is either because coach K does not want the job or you made a bad decision.  
If he did not want it, it may have been time to pool that salary and that of Dunlap and hired a top assistant.  IMO, there are none on this team.
As for recruiting, coach Chiles has the major responsibility but he has not been involved with a top 25 player since being hired and even the top 100 for 2014 do not impress me. Without the players, a weak x and o coach like Lavin is doomed.  
For next year we need a strong assistant to be hired and at least one guard to be signed as we should never be subjected to seeing a walk-on play in a Big East tourney ever again, unless we were winning.
As for D'Lo, if Lavin can sign another guard I would have no problem should he not be reinstated.  Personally, I think Lavin will wait for Jordan's decision before deciding on Harrison,  but when your coach suspends you for the year during the most important part of the schedule, all signs point to the player and the desire of the coach to part ways with that player.  
In a world of "what-ifs", if Harrison had not hit rock bottom as a player during the Big East games this year, the results  may  have been dramatically different.  His one-man show likely cost SJ at least 3 games this year and hindered the development of other players getting into an offensive rhythm.  Part of that of course was Lavin's fault for implementing an unstructured offense.  But offense is developed in practices and that is where the assistants pay dividends. None of the assistants having any coaching experience and it shows.  
Seeing the resurrection of "Slice" would do wonders for this team.  
Make him an offer, because Lav will never be confused with Mark Few and only great recruits will save this program from being a bottom half Big East team with the arrival of teams like Butler and Xavier.  
 
As you can see I agree with many of the pros and cons posted here, both about our coaches and player development.
As for our coach in particular, I see a man who has gone through a very difficult period in his life that began last year with a cancer diagnosis and the illness and death of his beloved father this year.  Unless you have walked in those shoes, you cannot appreciate the emotional impact they have had on the man.  I think it will make him a stronger coach for next year since he is a good student of the game and will learn for his many mistakes this year. 
My disappointment has been with not replacing coach Dunlap with a respected tactician.  We know he had a highly respected HS coach on his list but hiring another UCLA buddy was dumb.  When you have a coach with Keady's experience on your bench and do not move him to associate head coach, it is either because coach K does not want the job or you made a bad decision.  
If he did not want it, it may have been time to pool that salary and that of Dunlap and hired a top assistant.  IMO, there are none on this team.
As for recruiting, coach Chiles has the major responsibility but he has not been involved with a top 25 player since being hired and even the top 100 for 2014 do not impress me. Without the players, a weak x and o coach like Lavin is doomed.  
For next year we need a strong assistant to be hired and at least one guard to be signed as we should never be subjected to seeing a walk-on play in a Big East tourney ever again, unless we were winning.
As for D'Lo, if Lavin can sign another guard I would have no problem should he not be reinstated.  Personally, I think Lavin will wait for Jordan's decision before deciding on Harrison,  but when your coach suspends you for the year during the most important part of the schedule, all signs point to the player and the desire of the coach to part ways with that player.  
In a world of "what-ifs", if Harrison had not hit rock bottom as a player during the Big East games this year, the results  may  have been dramatically different.  His one-man show likely cost SJ at least 3 games this year and hindered the development of other players getting into an offensive rhythm.  Part of that of course was Lavin's fault for implementing an unstructured offense.  But offense is developed in practices and that is where the assistants pay dividends. None of the assistants having any coaching experience and it shows.  
Seeing the resurrection of "Slice" would do wonders for this team.  
Make him an offer, because Lav will never be confused with Mark Few and only great recruits will save this program from being a bottom half Big East team with the arrival of teams like Butler and Xavier.  
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I also was a bit wary of the hiring of a UCLA guy to fill the role of Dunlap. I wouldn't go so far to call it dumb, though.

Actually, Chiles has been involved with top 25 kids since has hired. Heck! He was just involved with one last summer.... Jarrell Martin? Rysheed Jordan (he's not a consensus top 25, but Rivals has him at #25). I can name others, but that is just the most recent ones, in which Chiles has led the charge.

IMO, "Slice" is only known as a recruiter, and he's only worth it within the NYC metro-area. Who do you get rid of to place "Slice" on the staff? Otherwise, it's redundant to bring him in at this moment.
 
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